Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Dirian Casmael

The guild's training grounds were located behind the building of Figliad's guild hall. A massive, open dirt quadrangle where the adventurers were practicing combat under the scorching sun above. Throughout the area, the sounds of clashing wooden weapons, colliding fists, charging arrows, and bursts of elemental balls could be heard.

The training ground was divided into two sections: the shooting grounds, where projectile users and mages practiced shooting wooden targets like logs and dummies with circles in the middle, and the dirt area, where physical combat-reliant adventurers practiced with wooden versions of their weapons. Some were wielding a sword, a sword and shield combination, a spear, and even a spear and shield combination.

Despite the fact that they were adventurers training on the erected dummies made of sacks and hays located in one section of the training ground, the majority of the adventurers, particularly the melee ones, were sparring with each other, against other adventurers, and against the trainers assigned by the guild itself. Gideon was one of the trainees sparring with the trainer.

Gideon groaned in pain as he rolled on the dirty ground, holding his back, which was the first part of his body to land as his trainer tumbled him for the ninth time, and with each fall, the force his trainer used in his attacks grew stronger and stronger.

"I think I broke my back," he said as he stood up and raised the wooden sword he was holding.

Gideon's opponent in front of him, on the other hand, put the wooden sword he was holding on his shoulder and brushed his smooth and shiny blonde hair up while smiling confidently. He was dressed in a white blazer with long sleeves, brown pants that were wrinkle-free, and shiny brown leather shoes.

Dirian Casmael, a native noble citizen of Figliad who belonged to the town's upper class, was one of the trainers assigned by the guild of Figliad due to his swordsmanship skills. He wasn't an adventurer, and his sole purpose was to train adventurers, but he wasn't doing it for the money; he was doing it because nothing could make him prouder than knowing that many of their town's powerful adventurers had passed through him, which had proven true. At the age of 24, he possessed Class D strength and combat abilities.

Dirian stood tall, crossed his legs, and laughed proudly. "Don't worry, Trainee; losing to me isn't your fault; many have tried, but none have succeeded."

"Go, Gideon! You can do it! Just remember, at least you're not crippled yet!" Halini screamed as she raised her hands to encourage Gideon, who had gone through the same thing when she first joined the guild.

Mian, Ordy, and Vien stood next to Halini, silently watching with their attentive eyes from the edge of the quadrangle's yellow line. Along with them were some of the adventurers who had decided to keep an eye on their new member, and they were shouting cheerful words every time Gideon managed to stand up again after being knocked out by his trainer, making the already loud place even louder and, as a result, drawing everyone's attention to Gideon.

Gideon, on the other hand, shook his head and raised his sword, groaning from the pains in his chest, arms, and back. "Yep, this is my life now," he said as he charged toward his opponent, gripping his wooden sword.

As he got close enough, he waved his wooden sword from left to right with all his might, holding it with both hands, but was easily blocked by Dirian, who was smiling. When he saw it, Gideon jumped back and charged again, this time waving his sword from right to left with all of his strength.

"Fierce Tempest," said an elegant and soft voice.

Dirian's image charged toward him, swinging his wooden sword with such force that his sword generated a loud sound of wind current. Gideon attempted to deflect the attack by blocking it, but his innate strength was insufficient to stop the overwhelming attack from what appeared to be a superhuman opponent. The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, groaning in pain as he fell to the ground for the tenth time.

A skill that allowed the user to enhance his weapon with fierce wind current, significantly improving his combat capabilities. The wind current's strength was determined solely by the amount of mana used to cast the skill. The Fierce Tempest.

"Stand up, My lad! You can do it!" exclaimed one of the adventurers as he raised his hand.

"I think he's done for—no! No! No! He's still standing!"

Gideon slowly stood up, dirt on his face, coughing, holding his chest, which had hurt the most from the attack, while holding the wooden sword in his shivering right hand. "Man, laundry day would be torture," he said as he stood up, his back making a crunchy sound as he did so. "I'm going to need a long break after this."

Although he appeared to be attacking without a plan at first glance, no one noticed that Gideon was taking different approaches in each round, forcing Dirian to use different methods to knock him down, revealing all of his techniques one after the other.

"You're doing great, Gideon!" exclaimed Ordy, raising his thumb. "Only a small number of trainees managed to stand up after being knocked out ten times! That's a good thing!"

"I don't think so!"

"Go, Gideon!" said Halini. "If you get the fifteenth, you'll break Ordy's record!"

"By then, I'd be dead!"

Mian, on the other hand, crossed her arms while keeping a close eye on Gideon. "I'm really curious how you managed to overcome Etveya's forest on your own."

Gideon raised his hand and gave Mian a thumbs up. "I guess I'm just stupidly lucky," he said before turning to face Dirian and raising his sword.

Dirian stood up straight. "They are correct, you standing after taking those beatings is an impressive thing, at least for a trainee; to be honest, based on your appearance alone, I expected you not to stand up again after being knocked out once."

"Yeah, I spent the last few days in that forest in such a way that if I didn't stand up immediately after falling down, I'd end up freaking dead," Gideon responded, preparing for another round of battle. "As a result, I became afraid of collapsing on the ground."

Dirian chuckled, then raised his sword with a solemn expression on his face. "I see, but I'm afraid we're running out of time; should we end it next round? This time, Trainee, I expect you to show me everything you've got."

Gideon breathed out. "Let's just get this over with; I'm already beat up."

Gideon took a battle stance, pointing his sword to the ground and leaning slightly backward, his right arm against his back. On the other hand, his left hand was guarding his stomach. He took a step forward with his left foot, his gaze fixed on Dirian.

Dirian, on the other hand, couldn't help but smile with amusement as he stared at Gideon and his unusual battle stance. "Oh, it's a new one; another battle stance every round, huh? What is it this time?"

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Gideon took a few seconds to exhale before responding to Dirian. "I call this the 'menacing dark swordsman' walk," he said as he walked toward Dirian while maintaining the same stance.

Dirian laughed one last time. "You're amusing; too bad this sparring session is coming to an end."

Dirian began the eleventh and final round of their sparring because of how slowly Gideon walked toward him. He swung his sword toward Gideon, his face filled with confidence. However, due to the nature of Gideon's stance, a clean swing of the sword could be easily avoided by taking a simple step back from the path of attack, which he did despite Gideon's slow movement speed.

When Dirian saw what had just happened, he dismissed it as an unintentional miss and prepared to wave his sword. "It appears I am already tired, I am starting to miss my strikes, let's end it here!" he screamed as he waved his sword at Gideon's chest, but the attack was avoided with one step back.

Dirian swung his sword again after hitting nothing, and Gideon just kept walking back every time he launched an attack and forward every time he took a brief moment of rest.

Dirian looked at Gideon with furrowed brows and discovered that he was completely focused on him, waiting for his next attack, and had not noticed Dirian's astonished stare.

Dirian waved his sword a few more times, but he only managed to hit nothing but air, as his opponent easily dodged his attacks by simply walking back and not even attempting to fight back.

Dirian knew he was much stronger than Gideon, as evidenced by multiple previous rounds, and that if he charged directly to knock him off for the final time, he would easily defeat him. However, Gideon's assured look as he watched his every move brought him to a halt. As if the enemy in front of him wasn't the one who had been rolling on the ground several times before.

"Who are you?" Dirian couldn't help but wonder as he stared at Gideon with his enlarged eyes.

Gideon, on the other hand, did not respond, instead slightly raising his sword by tilting his right hand, giving the impression that he was about to attack even though he was not.

Trial and error.

Despite his lack of strength, Gideon fought the enemy in front of him by using different attacks every round, aiming for specific objectives, memorizing as many combat techniques as the opponent had in the very short time he had, identifying his opponent's strengths and how to avoid them, and, most importantly, discovering his opponent's weaknesses and how to take advantage of them.

Gideon's natural observation abilities and ability to quickly devise a viable solution to a losing battle. The main reason for his survival up to this point was a combat style that relied on resourcefulness and the ability to exploit the enemy's weak points rather than his unreliable strength.

After going through Dirian's attacks from the recent round defeats, he learned when and where the attacks would come from, easily anticipating them. Every swing, wave, jump, mannerism, rest, breath, and eye movement. He learned more from his opponent the longer the battle lasted.

And in this situation, the enemy's biggest flaws were his pride and his preconceived notions about Gideon's abilities. Gideon mentally tricked Dirian by putting him in great confusion, questioning his own abilities, and distorting his sense of reality by dodging a few of his highly regarded attacks that he was certain would never miss while displaying unbreakable confidence and unrelenting will to destroy.

Gideon's fake faces could fool more than just himself.

Dirian, completely duped into thinking Gideon was about to attack, waved his sword repeatedly, thinking about stopping the attack that was about to come from Gideon, but Gideon just dodged by doing the same, walking back.

"What's going on?" Dirian screamed, forgetting he was in the middle of the training ground, where everyone could hear him.

Gideon, on the other hand, was well aware that his natural strength was insufficient to defeat his opponent, and that anticipating all of his opponent's next moves did not guarantee victory. Especially since he lacked the combat skills to overwhelm his opponent. So all he had to do was wait for the right moment, for a certain flaw to resurface.

Dirian came to a halt while slowly walking back after a few waves of attack. "What happened? What did you do?"

Gideon stared at Dirian with complete focus on his lifeless eyes, not realizing what kind of absurdity he was openly demonstrating, like a Black Ahaz about to devour its helpless prey. An illusion of a face to conceal the true fearful Gideon underneath, a skill he honed while still doing live-action role-playing. Such a faulty trick would not fool monsters, but fortunately for Gideon, humans would.

Gideon spread his feet and raised his sword over his shoulder, the blade curving downward as he held the handle with two hands, his lifeless eyes fixed on Dirian's puzzled expression. "I call this one the Sephiroth Stance," he said, his voice chilling.

Dirian's eyes twitched repeatedly, and he lost all patience. "Don't mess with me!" Dirian yelled, leaping toward Gideon with enraged eyes. "Trainee!"

Without holding back and ignoring the calls of those around him, Dirian was about to charge in with all of his might, swinging his wooden sword with such force that it could potentially cause serious harm to anyone who was hit by it. Especially Gideon, who had a weaker body than the others.

"Fierce Tempest!" Dirian screamed as he augmented his sword with a destructive wind current that made a gushing sound as it moved through the air.

Despite being stunned by the terrifying attack coming at him, Gideon maintained his illusion of a face and proceeded as planned while screaming curses inside his head. After all, this was the moment he had been anticipating. Rather than walking back, as Dirian had expected, Gideon walked straight toward Dirian. Before Dirian could react, Gideon stepped on Dirian's right foot and took advantage of his already launched jump to knock him off balance.

Dirian's body plummeted to the ground due to the weight anchoring his foot before he could even withdraw his already launched sword. His widened eyes met Gideon's equally surprised expression, and both of them looked at each other with their mouths wide open and jaws dropped. Staring at what they both thought was impossible.

Then Dirian realized what had happened.

He had been duped.

"Kubwah!"

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